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Importance of community organization
Importance of community organization
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In today’s society, we are blessed with various forms of philanthropy and different ways to achieve this philanthropic culture. When many people think of the term philanthropy, they immediately think of donating money to charities and other non-profit organizations. That is not necessarily the case because an individual can do philanthropy in a variety of different ways. For instance, they can do anything from taking part in or making an organization for the less fortunate. They can even participate in any form of community service that helps ‘people in that community’. Since philanthropy is all about “civic engagement, essentially social reform and community building.” Therefore, philanthropists need to connect with people and go beyond themselves into the world of donors in order to create that community of philanthropy. In a philanthropic culture, the importance of giving is instilled in the everyday organizational life at all levels and in all areas. This invites donors to support and embraced the healing mission of an organization. A philanthropic culture establishes an understanding of how community giving can strengthen and sustain organizations. However, the drive behind a philanthropic culture is to improve the wellbeing of humanity by preventing and solving social problems. In this paper, I’ll focus on how to establish a successful philanthropy and the importance of donors to sustain those philanthropy cultural aspects.
To begin, a philanthropy culture is often mistaken to be the same as a charity. Yet, the two are completely opposites. Charities usually concentrate on removing the suffering caused by social problems whereas the purpose and goal of philanthropy are to remove social problems. For instance, giving food ...
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...culture should like is the Make It Right foundation founded by Brad Pitt in 2007. The mission of this foundation is "to build safe, Cradle to Cradle inspired homes, buildings and communities for people in need. They firmly believe that everyone has the right to live in a high-quality, healthy home that enhances the natural environment.” This foundation partners with the donors who believe in healthy, affordable homes for communities in need. They have been able to build 150 homes for the Katrina victims in New Orleans and a 56-unit apartment building in Newark for disabled veterans. A philanthropy culture is vital in communities for the simple fact that it creates or builds collaboration at all levels.
Works Cited
Building a culture of philanthropy [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from
http://www.afpnet.org/Publications/eWireDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=4857
"…admitting what is called philanthropy, when adopted as a profession, to be often useful by its energetic impulse to society at large, it is perilous to the individual whose ruling passion, in one exclusive channel, it thus becomes. It ruins, or is fearfully apt to ruin, the heart, the rich juices of which God never meant should be pressed violently out and distilled into alcoholic liquor by an unnatural process, but should render life sweet, bland, and gently beneficent, and insensibly influence over other hearts and other lives to the same blessed end." (348)
A penny saved may be a penny earned, just as a penny spent may begin to better the world. Andrew Carnegie, a man known for his wealth, certainly knew the value of a dollar. His successful business ventures in the railroad industry, steel business, and in communications earned him his multimillion-dollar fortune. Much the opposite of greedy, Carnegie made sure he had what he needed to live a comfortable life, and put what remained of his fortune toward assistance for the general public and the betterment of their communities. He stressed the idea that generosity is superior to arrogance. Carnegie believes that for the wealthy to be generous to their community, rather than live an ostentatious lifestyle proves that they are truly rich in wealth and in heart. He also emphasized that money is most powerful in the hands of the earner, and not anyone else. In his retirement, Carnegie not only spent a great deal of time enriching his life by giving back; but also often wrote about business, money, and his stance on the importance of world peace. His essay “Wealth” presents what he believes are three common ways in which the wealthy typically distribute their money throughout their life and after death. Throughout his essay “Wealth”, Andrew Carnegie appeals to logos as he defines “rich” as having a great deal of wealth not only in materialistic terms, but also in leading an active philanthropic lifestyle. He solidifies this definition in his appeals to ethos and pathos with an emphasis on the rewards of philanthropy to the mind and body.
Kevin C. Robbins (2006) says modern organizations can trace their origin to the philanthropists who feel a sense of moral or spiritual obligation to a cause (p.13). It is at the basis of human relationships and civilization to care for the needs of others, and has been for centuries. Nearly every religion emphasizes in some way the spiritual and moral responsibility of individuals to contribute to others. Ancient Jews saw charitable giving as essential and imperative (Robbins 2006). It was expected that they participate in almsgiving for the poor, widows, and orphans. The Roman Empire contributed to our modern view of philanthropy, also. They had a sense of obligation to civilization to formalize and regulate philanthropy (Robbins 2006, p.17) Christianity has also greatly influenced the motives of philanthropy worldwide by encouraging the practice of self-sacrifice for the good of others in need.
Cecil Rhodes, in a speech at the chartering of the British South African company, said “Philanthropy is good, but philanthropy at 5 percent is even better.” Cecil Rhodes’s quote clearly illustrates a materialistic point of view, owing to the fact that he was the founder of De Beers Diamond Company. Being a businessman, a desire for profit is natural.... ... middle of paper ... ...
When deciding on which non-profit organization to give resources to, a person must think of a number of questions that need to be answered in which to choose a certain one. The most pertinent of these questions is the one that asks which cause the person cares about the most. The problem, for a majority of the population, is that they just do not know what they truly care about. That is why the United Way is the best option for donations. The United way does not focus on one specific, but instead works for a variety of different causes focused on fixing some of the different problems inside of the United States. The United Way is an organization, which envisions a world where all individuals and families achieve their human potential through education, income stability and healthy lives. It plans to do this by improving lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities around the world to advance the common good. The United Way needs money and time in order to achieve some of these goals. This essay will explain why the United Way is the best organization to give ones resources to.
Over the last 20 years, there has been a significant increase in nonprofit and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) in the United States. With the increase in organizations, also came an increase in scandals and in the 1990’s multiple nonprofit and nongovernment organizations lost the public’s trust due to misuse of funds, lavish spending, and improper advances to protected populations. These charity scandals not only hurt direct organization’s reputation, but also led to the mistrust of nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations as a whole (Sidel, 2005). To combat these reputations, NGOs and nonprofit organizations began to self-regulate through employing morally obligated and altruistic employees, accountability practices, and lastly through
Most people feel that they should help the needy in some way or another. The problem is how to help them. This problem generally arises when there is a person sitting on the side of the road in battered clothes with a cardboard sign asking for some form of help, almost always in the form of money. Yet something makes the giver uneasy. What will they do with this money? Do they need this money? Will it really help them? The truth of the matter is, it won't. However, there are things that can be done to help the needy. Giving money to a reliable foundation will help the helpless, something that transferring money from a pocket to a man's tin can will never do.
Maitri needs to focus on the cultivating relationships with their current donors. Maitri should ask donors if they would be capable of taking on more responsibility.3 Currently, select donors have a hand in bringing in potential donors through the dinners at Maitri. However, the potential donors may only come to those dinners and submit donations out of obligation to their friend/colleague, the Maitri donor sponsoring the dinner. Maitri donors can do more; perhaps assist outside of a fundraising capacity. They can head up a special project or assist in day-to-day operations. These donors may have their own particular skill sets that may prove to be invaluable to Maitri.4 Not only is stewardship of current donors less costly than seeking new prospects, but it also opens up communication for discussing Maitri’s community
Oprah Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954. Her home has been at Santa Barbra, California. She lives there with her partner, Stedman Graham. Oprah is a renowned talk show host, actress, American media proprietor, producer and philanthropist. The Oprah Winfrey show, multi-award winning talk show is what this great philanthropist is best known for. This show was the highest ranked show of its kind, being syndicated nationally in the period 1986-2011 (Winfrey 3). She is currently the CEO and owner of Oprah Winfrey Network. During her early life as an actress she was in the movie “The Color Purple” and the “Beloved”. In 2013, she starred in the movie, “The Butler” as Gloria Gaines. She has done documentaries and movies for HBO. She was also the voice for Gussie the Goose in “Charlotte’s Web” and also the voice Judge Bumbleden in the “Bee Movie”. This is just a few of the movies she was in.
The. Meyer, Jennifer. A. A. "Learning to Give, Philanthropy Education Resources That Teach Giving and Civic Engagement." Learning to Give. N.p., n.d. Web.
Philanthropy is uninfluenced by electoral votes or shareholders and that is precisely why philanthropists are now accomplishing things that governments alone cannot. It can link people and organizations across various countries, borders, religions and cultures and become the harbinger of change.
For something to be both morally relevant and invariably relevant, it means that the subject, in this case generosity, cannot change in its importance. This means that if we give a value system to acts, a certain act will always have the same value points. To put this into more concrete terms, if generosity has a value of positive points, it must always have positive points if it is invariable relevant. For something to be morally relevant, it has to be important in determining whether an action is moral or not. As an example, take Cans Around the Oval. If I were to donate food to the program, I would be generous; I would have +100 points. But what would happen if the food I donated was expired, taking this further, what would happen
Finally, it should be noted that today, most philanthropy is practiced in Great Britain and the United States. The principles of individual responsibility and volunteerism for the good of the people are most strongly abided by in these places. These cultural values have changed little over time for these countries, so while practices and institutions for giving have changed, the intentions are mostly the same.
Philanthropy is powerful because everyone can be affected by the love for mankind, this can change the world for better. Philanthropy is not the practice of self importance and putting yourself above others. Philanthropy and its power of changing the world is about donating to charity your time, belongings, or even sharing kind words or advice in an effort to better others. It is about giving to others less fortunate, and caring about other humans. Whether you know them or not, helping others and caring for the welfare of those less fortunate can change the world. One person can change the life of someone else's by one simple act of charity or kindness. Bill Gates is a wonderful example, due to his material advantages, he can give his belongings to others to help them, rather than keeping all his success to himself. Over his lifetime Mr. Gates donated $27
The Charity Organization Society was based in the scientific movement of organizations. Workers believed that charity work needed more definition and organization and that charity should be focused more on individual need rather than as a whole population. Focusing on individual need was intended to improve relief operations while making resources more efficient. They also intended to eliminate public outdoor relief. With the promotion of more organization and efficiency the new Charity Organization Societies were born. Trattner states that these new requirements for organization and efficiency spread so “rapidly that within 6 years 25 cities had such organizations and by the turn of the century there were some 138 of them in existence” (Trattner, 1999).